Gov. Rick Perry votes, talks UT regents, voter ID (VIDEO)

After casting his vote for the November elections Wednesday, Gov. Rick Perry shared his views on the state’s implementation of it’s voter ID law and the controversial investigation and potential impeachment of University of Texas Regent Wallace Hall.

Perry, who, unlike the leading candidates to succeed him, did not have to sign an affidavit to cast his vote, said the process has been smooth.

“I gave my driver’s license and it went as advertised,” Perry said. “The elections are going quite well. As a matter of fact, we’ve had a substantially bigger turnout from 2011.”

(Video at bottom)

When asked if the new law is burdensome for some, Perry deferred the question to Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, the likely Democrat candidate for governor who opposed Texas’ voter ID law but offered an amendment allowing voters whose names on their ID’s are “substantially similar” but not exact to cast their vote by signing an affidavit.

“Interestingly, Senator Davis carried that, which required an affidavit to be signed,” Perry said. “As far as I know, this wasn’t an issue until the Legislature made it an issue.”

Democrats have said the controversial voter ID law will disenfranchise voters, specifically women who have changed their name because of marriage or divorce.

Perry called the investigation of Regent Wallace “extraordinary political theater,” “bad public policy,” and said it “sends a horrible message to the public.”

“The idea that a regent or an appointee in any place of government is being stymied from asking questions about a the operation of a particular agency is very, very bad public policy,” Perry said, adding that he supports Hall.

“At the end, the public’s need to know, and the public’s right to know, the questions Mr. Hall is asking is totally and absolutely correct,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’ll find out whether there are things that are being hidden, if there are things individuals don’t want out in the public… I happen to support him in his efforts.”